Trust. That’s the first thing joining our ranks demands. Before you can even begin to wonder if the changes are worth it, you have to trust the changes are possible.
Then, you have to trust that a needle to the heart will do more than just kill you, and that the person you’ll be on the other side will be close enough to who you were that you’ll still believe in our mission.
You have to trust the one who injects you, and the one who sits by your side as the drug blazes through your veins, like the dose is burning away everything you are. You have to trust them when they shout over your screams of pain, promising the fire in your blood will never die completely, but your body will adapt to the flames.
You trust the one who teaches you to fight. You trust the one who gives you to your captain.
You trust the men and women who fight by your side, and when your captain sends you into battle, you don’t question. You just go.
That’s the way things are supposed to work.
From the moment I learned our kind existed and what they’d set out to do, I knew I wanted to join. Even as I’ve doubted my humanity and what the future might look like if we succeed, I’ve never once questioned the loyalty of my brethren.
I came into this place willing to die. I know my mission may demand my life.
But what if they’re willing to sacrifice me for an end I don’t even know about?
If it’s one of my pack that’s made my task so much more dangerous, then I’ve undoubtedly been betrayed.
The spark might not have been made by one of our kind. There could be another monster hunting the Incorporation.
But I’m not sure.
I’m not sure I can trust the people who sent me here.
The doubting makes the blood in my veins burn hotter. I may turn to ash before my work is even finished.
See you in the embers,
~C